Never Again
by winterorion
Summary: Gildarts gets ready to leave for another mission, but will his daughter let him go?


Never Again

Chapter 1

Fairy Tail was bustling with people today. Lucy, the energetic blonde, was initiating an interesting conversation with Mirajane and Levy at the bar counter, sipping on a strawberry milkshake all the while. The iron dragon slayer sat secluded in a dark corner, as usual, sneaking an occasional glace at the solid script mage before gnawing on another one of his screws. Laxus sat at a half circle shaped booth surrounded by his fans, and or, team mates. However, despite Freed's constant praising, Bickslow's extremely loud chat with his "babies", or Evergreen's piercing glare at Elfman who, at the time, was on the other side of the room; Laxus wasn't paying much attention to them at all. The lightning mage had his azure irises on a certain female card mage, Cana; much to the annoyance of a certain auburn haired man. He sat a few chairs away from the Solid Script, Celestial, and Takeover mages as he mutely watched the blonde slayer from the corner of his peripheral vision.

"Damn it , sparky… Tryin' to go after my baby girl," The Ace muttered harshly, "Make one bad move and you're dead."

The crash mage sighed inwardly. This was no place to go all out in a brawl especially since they just got it back. The Grand Magic Games not only granted the guild large sums of cash but also a newly renovated guildhall. Gildarts was pretty determined not to crash through walls this time, seeing as the building was new and all. But this kid, Laxus, was eyeing his little girl and the Ace wasn't having it.

"Tch," He voiced out again as he took a good sized drink of his mug of beer in annoyance. The blonde slayer had snuck another glace at the brunette once again. Before her father could do anything he would regret later, his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Yo, Gildarts, fight me!" The fire slayer called out as he rushed towards Gildarts, his right hand engulfed in his signature flames.

Despite the nice rush of nostalgia the challenger gave him, Gildarts had his focus on a other matters. For example; why the hell did his daughter just sneak a glance at Laxus and why the hell did he just do the same to her?

"Er, Natsu, not right now, kiddo. I ain't in the mood." He replied slowly as he watched the repulsive interest between the lightning and card mage gradually grow, "Maybe later, though."

"Ikuzo!" The pink haired mage cried out as he jumped into the air, gaining the upper ground, his hand and forearm set ablaze. Gildarts groaned loudly, of course, his warning had fallen on deaf ears. Again.

"I'd better deal with this… Heh." He said to himself as he stood from his seat, glancing at Cana to make sure she was watching how strong and awesome her daddy was. She wasn't. She was standing over the front of the booth where the Rajinshuu and Sparky were, her arms folded against her chest, a smirk carved beautifully into her face. Gildarts couldn't hear what she was saying over the clamor of the majority of the people in the guild, but she was trying to convince them of something. Sitting down across from the lightning mage, Cana proceeded to lock palms with the blonde in a fierce contest of strength and durability; the contest known as arm wrestling. Of course, to the brunette's father, this wasn't an arm wrestling contest. In his eyes, they were doing what he considered to be the worst case scenario that can only be achieved between her and some random guy; holding hands.

"What. The. Hell?" Gildarts spat in disbelief before raising his eyes into the heavens, for he was about to commit a sin; murder. What was he searching for? A weapon, of course. And, ironically, he received just what he wanted.

"Fire Dragon's-" Natsu yelled as he descended on what he believed to be a distracted Gildarts until he was roughly caught by the man, before he could even call out his attack, and hurled towards the lightning slayer. Chuckling at his grand scheme, Gildarts raised his hand towards Natsu while he was en route to Laxus' noggin, sending a white grid pattern of disassembly magic at the pink haired mage that impacted before he reached his destination. The result? An innumerable amount of miniature Natsu's that slammed into Fairy Tail's resident lighting mage, knocking him off balance, much to Gildarts enjoyment.

Laxus responded by sending unimaginably powerful electrical currents through the poor fire dragon slayer. Or was it fire dragon slayers? "Heh… Two birds with one stone." He chuckled as he returned to sipping his beer mug. By now the entire guild had gotten in on the fun. Gray was quickly freezing them, Lucy was worriedly gathering them, Gajeel was kicking them a little too eagerly, and Erza was slapping them away from her precious cake. The Ace smirked as he listened to the ruckus occurring.

"It feels pretty good to see the guild back to the way it used to be. I bet I can thank you for that, huh, dad?"

Gildarts smiled as he turned to his daughter who, to his satisfaction, also seemed to be enjoying the mess he created. She wore the blonde dragon's signature magic lacrima headphones proudly, having won the arm wrestle thanks to the Ace's fatherly impulses.

"Sure does, don't it?" He replied, a smile on his face, as he pat her on the back while she took a seat next to him.

This is what he wanted; this was an achievement of the highest rank. Spending time with Cana, no matter how subtle, was a priceless treasure to Gildarts.

"You're a real piece of work, ya' know that?" She commented before lifting a barrel of beer to her lips, savoring the flavor and consistency of the golden liquid. The ace watched her as she did so, another feeling of nostalgia running through him. However, this feeling did not originate from Cana herself. Perhaps her image reminded him of a certain woman he once called his wife and lover?

Gildarts shoved the thought away before he could become lost in his guilt of the things in the past. What happened, happened. Cornelia wasn't coming back, unfortunately, not matter how much he wanted her to. He would never smooth things over with her, get back together, or have any more children together. They would never grow old together.

Sighing slowly, Gildarts returned Natsu to his previous state. Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't allowed to leave as he found himself cornered by Laxus, the Rajinshuu, Gray, Erza, and Gajeel. "O-Oi," The fire mage called out as he was jumped, "hold on a second!"

The Ace stood slowly, it was time for his departure. He would return, of course. The only way he could atone for what he had done, the things he gave up one, and the years of his daughter's life he missed out on, he would have to return; to take care of Cana. Gildarts just smiled at the situation before standing and slinging his pack over his back as he began to make his way out before replying to his daughter, "All in a days work. Heh heh."

Cana just sat there as her father began to depart, although, her chest ached at the thought of him leaving. Again. What was she to do? Abandoning her seat and beer quickly, she caught up to the auburn haired man before he had left the guild property outside.

"Oi, old man." She said, as she approached the male.

"Hm?" He responded, turning to find the owner of the voice to be his daughter's, his eyebrow raised slightly, "What is it? Everything alright?"

Cana lowered her head slightly, the path of light to her eyes became blocked by her hair, which slid down her face, covering her eyes.

"No." she responded, bluntly.

"Nani?" Gildarts inquired, concern written plainly in his face as he moved toward Cana, placing once hand on the side of her face and using the other to move the hair from her face; revealing the brunette's tear filled eyes, "Tell me what happened. What's bothering you?"

The brunette stood there for a while in silence, prompting her father to think something was seriously wrong, "Oi, Cana….Tell me who bothered you. You know I'll take care of it. I swear to -"

The male stood dumbfounded when he was abruptly cut of mid sentence as the card mage had threw herself into his arms. He stumbled back, nearly tripping, as he attempted to deduce the situation. "O-Oi!" he muttered under his breath, as he did what any parent would do. Wrapping his arms around her, he would speak, his voice laced with a comforting tone, "I'm coming back ya' know."

"Yeah, I know." she responded, she hadn't moved yet, her arms were still around her father tightly.

Silence.

Guilt began to prick the Fairy Tail Ace's conscience sharply. Had he scarred her this badly? To see your father leave for months, even years, at a time… Not knowing if he would come home safely or in a body bag. That is when Gildarts made a silent promise to Cana. One that he intended to keep.

Never again.

_A/N _

_Thanks for reading my story! This was originally planned as an one shot but if you guys like it I can add more. Please review and provide constructive criticism…_

_Sincerely, _

_Orion _


End file.
